Seated work has been shown to constitute a risk factor for low-back pain. This is attributed to the prolonged and monotonous low-level mechanical load imposed by a seated posture. To evaluate the potential health effects with respect to the low back of office chairs with a movable seat and back rest, trunk kinematics, erector spinae EMG, spinal shrinkage and local discomfort were assessed in 10...

OBJECTIVE To determine trunk muscle activity when lifting an object of greater weight than expected, which may contribute to the development of low back pain. DESIGN Electromyographic evaluation of trunk muscle activity. SETTING University of Tsukuba, Spine laboratory. PARTICIPANTS Eleven healthy men with a mean age of 24 (SD 2) years. INTERVENTIONS Trunk muscle activity was measured wh...

BACKGROUND The flexion relaxation phenomenon (FRP) has been widely investigated. Nevertheless, no study has been reported on the FRP as well as spasm response to large lifting load. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of large lifting load on the FRP response and spasm during execution of a flexion-extension exercise. METHODS Twenty-two healthy male university students without lo...

[Purpose] This study investigated the effect of exhalation exercises on trunk muscle activity and Oswestry Disability Index by inducing trunk muscle activity through increasing intra-abdominal pressure and activating muscles, contributing to spinal stability. [Subjects and Methods] This intervention program included 20 male patients with chronic low back pain. A total of 10 subjects each were r...

Adoption of the stooped posture in the workplace is widespread throughout the world in agriculture, construction, and mining. This type of posture has been established as a risk factor for developing low back disorders (LBDs). The purpose of this study is to evaluate a personal weight transfer device as a possible intervention to reduce the load on the lumbar spine, thereby reducing the risk of...

Method In order to identify the changes in the body the experiment was conducted by maintaining the standing posture for two hours by using three sorts of shoes state and four sorts of mats as an object of 9 test subjects. The Mat used in the experiment was designed on the basis of Elasticity 15% and 35%, Hardness 25Hs and 45Hs. As to the state of shoes, the experiment was progressed by dividin...

OBJECTIVES The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of a 6-week motor control exercise (MCE) vs stretching exercise (SE) on reducing compensatory pelvic motion during active prone knee flexion (APKF) and intensity of low back pain. METHODS Thirty-six people in the lumbar-rotation-extension subgroup were randomly assigned equally into 2 exercise groups (18 people in each ...

This work investigated how wearing a new design of back belt affects erector spinae activity, hand force, and body stability. The belt was first tested with static holding tasks and found to significantly decrease the back muscle activity. Actual lifting tasks were further carried out to test the effect of the belt. Ten male subjects performed a symmetric lifting task of low-lying loads (11 and...

Electromyographic activity of the erector spinae was studied in 25 healthy, young individuals during forward bending and then coming back to erect posture. Sudden onset of electrical silence called the flexion-relaxation phenomenon was seen to occur in all at 57% of the maximum hip flexion and at 84% of the maximum vertebral flexion. Abrupt re-commencement of the activity was seen at almost sim...

There is a number of research work in the literature that have applied sEMG biofeedback as an instrument for muscle rehabilitation. Therefore, sEMG is a good tool for this research work and is used to record the myoelectric activity in the paraspinal muscles of those with AIS during habitual standing and sitting. After the sEMG evaluation, the root-mean-square (RMS) sEMG values of the paraspina...